MinkFlamingos

Sep 6 Peanut Adventures, Issue 4

Halloween in September, you say? What foolishness is this? Fie! Disney starts the Halloween SEASON in August now, I'll have you know. Our first (and hopefully not only) party for this season was this past Friday. The forecast... was not good.

Still, Disney has proven remarkably magical when it comes to not obeying these hourly forecasts, so we packed up and hoped for the best. Our good friend, Mellie, got in line for Jack and Sally for us at 3 PM!! Bless her. We only got a couple of dirty looks when we joined her around 4:30.

Even got to see them putting the decor up for the spooky couple. We got D dressed up in her new Sally dress, and before we knew it, it was time!

The treats we made to hand out this year were chocolate dipped oreos decorated with a Jack face. It was a pinterest thing, that was almost a pinterest fail due to the melty quality of the temperatures so they will NOT be attempted again, no matter how cute they were.

Daphne has usually been a little shy with Jack in the past, generally beelining for Sally and gradually warming to the Pumpkin King (he's a little eccentric, so I get it). Not this year! She went with him straight away to hand over his treats. Maddie, in a true reversal of roles, was shy and reserved and a little reluctant to engage. It did, however, make for absolutely hilarious moments.

Poor Sally, she tried. Still, Maddie, the consummate professional, was all smiles for the group photo.

We were around the third family to meet them, and as we were leaving? Rain started. When rain starts, Jack and Sally stop, so we were SUPER lucky to see them when we did (thanks again, Mellie). Since it was barely 5 and the party didn't officially start for 2 more hours, we decided to kill some time getting dinner at Pecos Bill's. D waffled on what to eat, but once she tried my nachos with guacamole? I had to go get myself another order of my own so she could polish off my original one. Still raining, park mostly empty, so we took the girls to ride Pirates. The rain had stopped, and I was on a mission: get front row for the Hocus Pocus show for the first time. So Mellie and I took the strollers to claim our territory before 7.

D ended up opting to stay with us since she REFUSED to ride Space Mountain. She was more than happy to watch Descendants 2 on my phone, however. Once everybody was back with us, it was starting to get busy around the castle. Still, with only 3 showings of Hocus Pocus that night? I was determined to make sure we got this first one done to free up the evening.

At last the sun went down, the smoke machines fired up, and out came the dancers to kick off our absolute favorite show on property.

It was during Dr. Facilier's number (the first song) that I started feeling the drops. NO. NO. NOOOOO...

Sure enough, the sisters dashed off to proclamations of the "burning rain of death" as the announcement came over the air that the show would end due to the rain. Bah. It wasn't raining hard, but we tucked under our umbrellas and decided to stake out a dry spot to wait it out and hopefully be close enough to grab a good place to watch the Boo To You Parade scheduled to start just an hour later. To Town Square Theater we went. The girls seemed in high spirits, eagerly putting on a show for all who would watch.

Bound and determined that we would not be deterred from Boo To You traditions, Ian even showed up with corn dog nuggets and fries to snack on as we continued to wait. (Nuggets and fries waiting for Boo To You IS OUR THING).

In case you hadn't noticed, D had costume changed into her Sarah Sanderson costume as soon as we were done meeting Jack and Sally. It's really her favorite costume and she was so thrilled it still fit from last year (had to get new boots, though). Announcements came over the speakers that Boo to You was delayed, but if it could get down to just a sprinkle it would most likely step off. The rain finally dwindled and we headed into the square to stake out a spot. I was surprised to hear the Zoo Crew's music kick off, but thrilled since D got to go play with Shelby and Judy Hopps. You'll notice in the video how D decides to just lead the parade, no hand holding needed LOL.

We were just passing by the area that's usually roped off for wheelchairs as the CM's were taking down the front rope. Could we go in there?? Sure. But then they left the side ropes up, so here our little group was with our own little private cordoned off viewing area for Boo To You. Freakin' score. Parade spoiled are we. D surprised her father and I by demonstrating she knows all the words to MJ's Thriller.

At last, the opening chords to the Boo To You music rang through Town square. Cheers all around. I carefully held my umbrella with my left hand and my camera with my right and hoped for the best (shooting Boo To You is a challenge that I've been getting better at by inches each year).

Due to the wet road, there was no choreography for the parade for the safety of the performers. Can't say that I minded, since it meant the characters could wander where they pleased and the girls got tons of attention.

D even got high fives from Big Al and the hyenas. But the high point for D might have been when Maleficent caught sight of her from up on her float and they got to have some special moments.

The parade stepped off so late, by the time we'd made our way halfway up Main Street, Hallowishes was starting. Fireworks in the rain, indeed.

Still drizzling, we decided to do something we'd never done at the Halloween Party before: go Trick Or Treating.

Ian and I got to sing along loudly with Les Poissons as we walked through Fantasyland and embarrass our kid, too. We'd been planning to try to get back toward the castle in hopes of catching the last Hocus Pocus or Boo To You's second run, but when we saw that Jasmine and Genie had almost no line? Pit stop.

We hightailed it back to the castle just in time to catch the full choreography version of Boo To You.

We may not have managed a front row spot for Hocus Pocus, but at least it actually HAPPENED. Closer to 12:30 by the time the stage was properly dried.

So great getting to cheer on our frightful friends on the stage. Despite the hour, D was IN for the show. The whole show.

And when it was over? She asked to go on rides. Sorry kid, we've actually shut down the park. The good news was that, since it was so late, there wasn't a line for the monorail. D was asleep before we got to the interstate. Didn't pull into our driveway until around 2:15 a.m. Thankfully, we got to take Saturday to recuperate. D slept in until 9, so that was nice. Not nice enough for me to feel like doing anything that involved leaving my couch, but nice.

After our recovery day, we'd made plans to meet up with a special friend: D's honorary Big Sister, Simone. She hasn't been back in town since she moved early this year, so we made our way down to Animal Kingdom (despite the, again, ominous forecast).

We caught a Festival of the Lion King. They were down a Tumble Monkey so that part of the act didn't happen. Sadface. Animal Kingdom, by the way, was PACKED. Yes, it was a holiday weekend, but this was definitely the most crowded I've seen that park since immediately following the open of Pandora. We snuck up the back way to Pandora so we could introduce Simone to the glorious Satuli Canteen (which also had the longest line I've ever seen there, thankfully it moved quickly).

D showed Simone the flamingos (and their eggs).

And D discovered this dig area in Dinoland.

Simone took D to visit Goofy and Pluto at their Dinoland location for the first time ever.

And on the safari we not only got to see the Wild Dogs out and about, they were actually PLAYING and it was the cutest thing EVER.

At last, with promises of a return trip soon, we said our goodbyes to Big Sister just in time to dodge the rainfall and get back to our car.

Normally, this would be the end of peanut adventures, and even though this wasn't a special place we went, I just had to share with you all: our tortoises hatched babies and we found them this weekend. They are tiny and precious and we are having way too much fun looking after them.